Thursday, November 16, 2017

“Jamaica
was a great nearshore choice because of its language and cultural affinity to
the United States. In the next three to five years, we expect to grow to 5,000.
However, that will depend on two factors - business demand and supply”

Hinduja Global
Solutions country head for Jamaica and vice-president for business development
for the Latin America and the Caribbean, Anand Biradar, commenting on their
expansion plans for 2018

Hinduja
Global Solutions currently has 2,000 at three centers and has already invested
US$10 million in its operations to date. Globally, the Hinduja Group employs
45,000 persons and serves clientele in:

1.Banking

2.Consumer
electronics and technology

3.Consumer
packaged-goods industries

4.Health
care

5.Insurance

6.Retail

7.Telecommunications
and media

Its
regional operations are mostly centered around Colombia but they got their
start in 2013 with only 50 employees. Their latest push will see them investing
some US$2 million in the new centre with the possibility to expand outside the
capital, Kingston, where their operations are currently concentrated, being
considered.

Hinduja
Global Solutions currently has three (3) locations at the following places:

1.Constant
Spring Road in Kingston

2.Worthington
Terrace

3.Saxthorpe
Avenue

So
any expansion may possibly include Portmore or Montego Bay to quote Hinduja
Global Solutions country head for Jamaica and vice-president for business
development for the Latin America and the Caribbean, Anand Biradar, quote: “In
2018 we might be looking at another facility, likely in Kingston. We might also
look at Portmore or Montego Bay. To date, we have stayed in Kingston because it
is closer to the airport and hotels, closer for our clients. We have also
surveyed our workers and they want to come to the city and work”.

Jamaica
less than 1% of a slice of the US$70 billion global BPO (business process
outsourcing) business, but we have the advantage in terms of:

1.Positioned
in the Caribbean

2.English
speaking population

3.Easily
trainable workforce

But,
there are challenges and issues that need to be addressed such as:

1.Limited
infrastructure

2.Worker
transport

3.Worker
attitudes

4.Management
shortages

Limited
infrastructure is a problem, as very few facilities exist in Jamaica that is
ready to just enter and set up business. Most BPO's have to spend money to
renovate an unused building or office space in order to begin their services,
quote: “There are not a whole lot of places with 'plug and play' facilities.
It's just not there. This location was once a warehouse which we spent a lot of
capital to upgrade”.

That
last issue is very important as, FLOW, which is owned by Liberty Global, is the
only Carrier grade telecom Provider in Jamaica and the Caribbean. BPO's rely
heavily on the service of FLOW, which is notoriously fickle and prone to
outages as hinted by Anand Biradar, quote: “First is telecommunications
infrastructure. We only have one company - Cable & Wireless. There is no
major issue as yet, but it could become a problem”.

The
skills pool in Jamaica is also low, a many of the workers are High School
graduates and not college educated as noted by Anand Biradar, quote: “For those
on the telephone, a lot have not finished college. They are capable when
trained, but the lack of education shows in their maturity and their ability.
It is a lot of heavy lifting to groom them”.

This
is logical; Jamaicans going to college are unwilling to tolerate being verbally
abused on the phone after having invested that much money to get their degrees.
As such, the attrition rate of 40% per annum of Hinduja Global Solutions is
typical of the industry in Jamaica.

This
is even with salaries that are fairly high: US$200 to US$300 per hour
fortnightly. CSA's get added incentives for achieving KPI (Key Performance
Indices) such as Schedule Adherence, Quality and Handle time along with others.
This translates to $32,000 per fortnight, or $63,000 per month or $845,000
annually, which is not bad for an unskilled worker living with their parents.

The
trick is to save as much as possible and use the money to plan your escape. So
with Hinduja Global Solutions aiming for 5000 by 2018, getting a job in a Call
center may be the stepping stone you need to further your education and get a
more ideal job elsewhere.

Researchers,
who published their work in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, explored
two options:

1.Quitting
cold turkey

2.Gradually
quitting

Many
have sought for answers on the best way to help people quit smoking. But which
one works best?

University of Oxford
and quitting smoking – Cold Turkey is best as e-cigarettes may be ineffective

Research
done by Lindson-Hawley and her colleagues at the University of Oxford focused
on 700 people in England who smoked at least 15 cigarettes a day but who were
planning to quit. They divided the group as follows:

1.50%
were randomly assigned to smoke normally until their quit date, then to stop
abruptly i.e. the abrupt group

2.50%
gradually reduced their smoking over the 2 weeks leading up to the appointed
day i.e. the gradual-cessation group

The
abrupt group did 25% better than the gradual-cessation group. But the real
surprise came when the researchers examined smoking abstinence for 4 weeks
after the quit date, and then 6 months later.

After
6 months:

1.22%
of the abrupt groups were still smoke-free

2.15%
of the gradual-cessation groups were still smoke-free

So
clearly the cold-turkey method used by the abrupt group is still more
successful, as a personal preference to quitting does not impact on the success
of quitting to quote Dr. Lindson-Hawley: “Even if people wanted to quit
gradually, they were more likely to quit if they used the abrupt method”.

It
also suggests e-cigarettes may not be as good as often promoted by many albeit
the quitting rates for the gradual-cessation group are not bad, just less as
noted by Dr. Lindson-Hawley: “the quit rates we found in the gradual group were
still quite good.........If there are people who really feel they can’t quit
abruptly, and they want to quit gradually—otherwise they won’t try to quit at
all—we still need to support them to do that.”